Part nurse, Chinese medicine practitioner, nanny and caregiver, Sharon Keung has job skills much in demand by new parents in the Chinese-Canadian community.

Chinese-language classified and online ads are forever seeking yue-sao or postpartum doulas who tend to a new mother and her baby’s emotional and physical needs for the first month after birth.

The demand is so high that recruitment services for experienced yue-sao have sprung up and social agencies are starting to offer short-term training programs in Greater Toronto and Vancouver.

A three-day course at Toronto’s Chinese Canadian Community Service Centre is so popular that there’s a waiting list.

“I have jobs booked solid from November till February,” says Keung, who emigrated from Hong Kong in 2009 and has worked as a yue-sao for nine Toronto families since.

What makes the Chinese doulas unique is their adherence to tradition in caring for new mothers and babies: what herbal soups to make to rebuild health, what food and activities to avoid and what customs to abide.

Some of those traditions — a mother bathes with ginger water, for example — are drastically different from western practices.

“They have very specialized training,” said Danny Mui, whose company, Merit Home Support Services, offers homemaking, personal support and postpartum care.

“Most Chinese understand the importance of yue-sao. They know if the new mother is well cared for in the first month, even if they were not healthy before, their health will be rebuilt. But good yue-sao are hard to find here.”

Canada has seen an influx of Mainland Chinese immigrants — 33,000 in 2012 alone — with China being the top source country in eight of the last 10 years.

Many of them, educated and financially established, come from nucleus families under China’s one-child policy and are in Canada without their parents, who often remain in China to look after their own parents.

Yet, the new parents are keen on following the traditions passed along in China’s long civilization, said Mui, who has seven yue-sao working for him, but clients must still book six months ahead of the expected labour.

Spotting the growing market demand, the Chinese Canadian Community Service Centre developed its yue-sao training course in late 2011, taught by seasoned yue-sao, registered nurses, social workers and nutritionists.

Course co-ordinator Simon So said they receive as many as 20 calls a day inquiring about the training, with some hoping to help a family member and others aspiring to pursue a new career in postpartum care. The course spans three Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and costs $350.

The 20 spots for its November course were filled within days and there are 40 people already on the waiting list, said So. “We have been running two classes a year, but we are planning to run up to three classes next year and maybe another one in Mississauga.”

Woon-tim Lee, a certified yue-sao from Hong Kong and a course instructor, has more than 10 years’ experience, having cared for more than 80 new mothers and babies.

“We work six hours per shift, five days a week. When we are there, we provide personal care to the mother and child. You just go non-stop, bathing them, changing the baby’s diaper, helping with the breastfeeding and preparing all these traditional Chinese foods for the mother,” Lee said.

“You don’t just tell the mother what to eat and what to do, but you have to explain to her, for example, why they can’t eat turnips, bok choy or watermelon right away. And we try to do as much as we can when we are there. That’s the only time the mother can really rest and relax.”

Both Keung and Lee said the toughest part of a yue-sao’s job is when the parents and in-laws are present. “You just can’t say to the parents or in-laws that they are wrong,” Keung said with a chuckle.

Yue-sao make decent wages, between $18 and $22 an hour, but Lee said what keeps her from retirement is seeing a new baby grow.

“I used to work in senior care in Hong Kong, but felt so sad when I saw people leaving us. That’s when I decided to find a job that could bring me joy,” said Lee. “Now I welcome new lives to the world.”

What to eat & what not:

NO - bad for breastfeeding:

1. Pig kidneys

2. Pig livers

3. Pigeons

4. Hot spices

5. Malt products

6. Raw fish

7. Oysters

YES - good for breastfeeding:

1. Red kidney beans

2. Red beans

3. Soy beans

4. Walnuts

5. Cashew

6. Figs

7. Pork hooves

8. Lotus roots

9. Green papaya

10. Octopus

Source: Postpartum doula Woon-tim Lee

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